Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Miles O'Brien

Not for nothing is Chief Miles Edward O'Brien considered the most important man in the Galaxy. He is the everyman, the humble worker who proved his worth time and time again. He was with Star Trek from the earliest days of The Next Generation and has appeared, albeit in statue form, as recently as Star Trek: Lower Decks.

With the benefit of being cast in two of the franchise staples, O'Brien became one of the most fleshed-out characters of all. Though much of this occurred on Deep Space Nine, he was by no means forgotten on the Enterprise either. Episodes like Data's Day and The Wounded are critical in terms of his journey - both of which took place while he was boldly going to the transporter room.

We have already compiled a list of the times the poor man suffered - part of a long-running gag by the writers to make this hugely popular character go through seven levels of Hell each season. What did this do for the character? Let's jump in and find out what the Chief has to say for himself. 

Colm Meaney has the honour of being one of only two actors to appear in both the pilots and finales of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, with Michael Dorn being the other. In Encounter At Farpoint, he was an unnamed Conn officer, one who mercifully didn't have to deal with Q's courtroom along with the rest of his Battle Bridge crew.

Though O'Brien, as he would later be named, would predominantly appear in Gold, he appears in Red here. By the time ...All Good Things came around, it was jarring to see him back in the Red again, as by then he had been on DS9 for two seasons, clad in operations colours.

Meaney told StarTrek.com in 2014 that he honestly couldn't remember if this appearance in the pilot was supposed to be a one-off, or if the brief called for a recurring character. As he recalled, they simply kept asking him to come back in, with O'Brien finally receiving his surname in Unnatural Selection, and his first name in Family.